[00:00:00] I feel like leaders try to come across as invincible.
[00:00:03] And there is such power in sharing a personal story
[00:00:07] and being vulnerable.
[00:00:08] That's why I love what I do.
[00:00:10] ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
[00:00:20] Hi, and welcome back to Reflect Forward.
[00:00:22] I'm your host, Carrie Siggins,
[00:00:23] and I am so glad you are here today.
[00:00:26] Today, my guest is a very, very, very dear friend I know you're going to get a lot out of this, especially if you get on stage, but even if you don't get on stage, even if you're just talking to your employees in meetings or on Zooms, you can connect with them through storytelling and you will absolutely pick up a nugget in this amazing podcast. So hang tight and I will be right back with Laquita.
[00:02:42] sort of action or result that you're looking for. I know those results well because we've worked together for the past several years
[00:02:46] and you've taken me from being so nervous in front of a camera to feeling so much more confident
[00:02:52] and being able to deliver the exact message, the exact story that I want to tell.
[00:02:57] You do have a magical way of giving feedback and helping people really hone in on that message
[00:03:03] and their presentation skills, like how they come to you. And those,
[00:04:21] it's hard to work with people who don't know that business people, even more than actors and other kind of creatives, really need to focus on connecting. I see so many employees and people in businesses, they're not even paying attention in a normal Zoom meeting. How long does it take until people tune out?
[00:05:41] It's two or three minutes later and people are typing in
[00:05:44] other chat boxes and windows. And then the next person who went told, I wasn't going to share this story, but Carrie, since you did, I'm going to tell about this really impactful time in my life. And it just opened up this much, much deeper connection. And that is when I realized the power of storytelling and vulnerability and sharing kind of those flaws about yourself or those things that maybe you would feel like, no, that's not appropriate
[00:07:04] in the business place.
[00:07:05] And you connect at have to show vulnerability. If we can normalize that, I think more people would start feeling comfortable to share and to be vulnerable. And so how do you start that process? Like me, I'm a pretty open person. I'm a very open person. I've learned to be more open, but not everybody's like that. So how do you coach people who are like, eh, I'm not really comfortable getting vulnerable with my team,
[00:08:22] especially through telling a personal story.
[00:08:26] I would actually say that so I have to work with him on that storytelling. And I was like,
[00:09:44] it doesn't have to be about you, although tell us a very small story about that. That's kind of an easy way to jump into storytelling and to try to connect emotionally a little bit.
[00:11:01] So that's great advice.
[00:11:02] What about being in front of a camera?
[00:11:04] As you know, that was something that I was very uncomfortable
[00:11:06] with when we first started working together commercial style, nothing against it, commercials if you do it, commercials, but you know, just looking there and like, hey, I'm on camera. Just talking to an actual person is another thing. I also think it's important to practice. It's not overnight for a big part of my career. I felt uncomfortable and I was actually acting on camera and getting work and I still felt uncomfortable.
[00:12:22] But I think you need to do it more.
[00:12:24] Record yourself, look back. How do I look? What is my hair?
[00:13:40] Is this hair in place?
[00:13:42] That doesn't exist.
[00:13:43] What exists is us just trying to connect and share a message. when they are up in front of people speaking. Yeah, I remember when I told you that because I was speaking to you about your speeches and the fact that you are always making an impact and people are speaking about how much you are changing their lives. What do the words matter if you can get that type of reaction from the audience?
[00:15:01] But it's not easy, that's also still a work in progress.
[00:15:05] But I think it all goes go up there and be myself. But I would never have been able to get to that point if I wouldn't have started with that process of writing my speeches and trying to memorize them and just getting more comfortable with the message that I'm trying to convey. Is that a pretty typical process that people go through? I think the best case scenario is always to start writing.
[00:16:22] And that can be one time or that can be 50 times.
[00:16:26] But I think for flow and be present, if you're someone who can't do that, which is most people, then they're so worried about their words, then maybe you don't memorize. Maybe you just create an outline for yourself, a speaking outline that you can then speak from,
[00:17:42] and then eventually maybe you just write down
[00:17:44] some bullet points.
[00:17:45] It's whatever works the talking points. It's where were you at in the beginning of your journey? Maybe that's one sentence. Then where did you go from there? What was the transition? So you can do something similar with an outline, but slides are amazing for that, as long as you don't put too many things on the slides. I have like just a bone to pick with those busy, busy slides. And I'm like, I can read,
[00:19:00] I don't need you to read the slide to me.
[00:19:03] So a little bit on your slide can help to guide you
[00:19:06] and also be a nice visual want to give so much. And in trying to give so much, you end up giving nothing because people are overwhelmed and they cannot remember. If you have one, two or three key concepts that you want to give people and then you wrap it up with stories or statistics
[00:20:22] and you are present and you are dynamic,
[00:20:24] that is more than enough.
[00:20:26] So you talked about something like, I am going to help you figure out how to get comfortable, what types of gestures you can use, and when you feel comfortable to use them, or when they're motivated by something. I think movement should always be motivated. So if you are motivated to walk to one side because you are speaking to a different side of the audience, or you're motivated because of the big transition
[00:21:41] in your story versus just this nervous pacing back and forth.
[00:21:46] So I try to talk up really early to do it, because it just like imprints there, you have to go through it several times to make sure that I'm comfortable with those transitions. And I don't have to worry about being awkward and weird because I know what I'm going to say. I don't know if that's how other people practice, but that's how I practice. It's like the day before is like, okay, I'm going to give it like six times.
[00:23:02] And then I'm ready.
[00:23:03] I am with you.
[00:23:05] I actually love practice.
[00:23:07] I came from theater before Hollywood. like I like practicing and I like working on things and figuring out how I can improve. Yeah, I totally agree. I'm with you. I always wish I had more time, but usually I'm like flying from doing something like with Stone Age and then I was like, oh, I got to take care of Jack and then, okay, I'm going to go give this speech. So it's like, okay, I'm going to practice six times
[00:24:20] in the next 12 hours. That's a lot of people. So for me, Rock My Story, it's not just about coming to
[00:25:40] a training. It is two days of intense nice on paper until you see it happen to someone else. Like I've seen it happen for you. I've seen people build incredible businesses with great brand stories. It truly is remarkable, the power of storytelling
[00:27:01] in my life.
[00:27:03] That's for another podcast.
[00:27:05] It brings me to tears sometimes just thinking all that in the show notes. All right, so real quick, I wanna just talk a little bit more about you because you've talked about being an actor and then now you are a communication expert. Can you share a little bit of your journey? Did you always know that you wanted to act and how did that transition into what you're doing now? I think it was maybe,
[00:28:21] I don't wanna say failure because there's no failures,
[00:28:24] but I feel like I got here,
[00:28:26] my biggest first disappointment in my life So all is not lost. I did move to Hollywood and I did also work as an actress but I feel like I there was something in Hollywood that I Connected with storytelling and all of that but I was working with corporates I was always working with corporates and I knew there was something that Hollywood had that the corporate people needed So I always even when I was working in Hollywood as an actress and I produce
[00:29:43] I always knew there was something that if only corporate could understand a little bit of what Hollywood understood
[00:30:46] dream, and not going out, going exactly the way that you wanted to, but finding such fulfillment through not finding that success that you were looking for and pivoting, even when maybe
[00:30:50] you didn't want it, right?
[00:30:51] I know you said that you were embarrassed doing some of these corporate gigs, but look at
[00:30:55] you now, you're known around the world.
[00:30:57] I don't even know where you are right now.
[00:30:58] Are you in Europe somewhere?
[00:30:59] Right?
[00:31:00] I mean, you traveled the world.
[00:31:01] Yes.
[00:31:02] I traveled the world.
[00:31:03] I traveled the world.
[00:31:04] Like this is, it's so wild of reflecting forward. That's pretty much what you did, right? It was, okay, how do I take all of this stuff that I've been training for? Cause you started acting when you were a little girl, right? Or it was like, I was a little girl when I started acting. Yeah. Yeah. And then look at what you've created now. So if it's perfectly with the theme of this podcast,
[00:32:20] it makes me emotional. If only we could all think or learn those lessons earlier
[00:32:25] in life.
[00:32:26] You learn them when to our website, ClearCommunicationAcademy.com. We'd love to hear from you there as well. Perfect, I will include all those in the show notes. All right, Lequito, thank you so much for taking time out of your Europe trip to come on the show today. I so appreciate it and I can't wait to see you in February.
[00:33:40] I'm excited to see you in February
[00:33:43] and I'm excited to hear what you are gonna be