439-SYB-Elaine-Schomburg-LaFleur.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Before that VIP day, I had given more of your short type of talks, somewhere around 15 to 20 minutes on very topics that I know really well, etc. and when I reached out to you, it was because I got my first opportunity to do a keynote. And so I was taking this 15 to 20 minute thing that I do to an hour. And it was quite the it was quite the jump in time, as well as the jump in the amount of people who were going to be attending. And I really wanted some advice from you on how to take what I know and, and turn that into an actual keynote.
Carol Cox:
More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand. Your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.
Diane Diaz:
If you’re someone who has an idea for a talk, or maybe you even created your talk already, you might be wondering, well, what now? How do I get out there and start speaking? How do I promote myself as a speaker? How do I start getting speaking gigs? It’s one thing to have that talk ready, but it’s a whole other thing to actually start doing the talk, getting out there, delivering it and finding speaking engagements that you want. Places you want to speak to and places where you can deliver this fantastic message that you created. So how do you do that? What are the techniques for doing that? Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about today with our guest on the Speaking of Brand podcast, Elaine Schomburg LaFleur. And so let me start by just saying if you’re new to speaking your brand, welcome. If you are returning, welcome back. I’m Diane Diaz and I am the marketing communications strategist and lead speaking coach at Speaking Your Brand. And today we are going to talk about all the actions and steps that you can take to take the talk that you’ve worked on, practice it and get out there and start delivering it so that you can start making the impact that you want to make with your message. Now our guest today, as I said, is Elaine Schonburg LaFleur, and she is senior project engineer at AOA here in Orlando. And she’s going to tell us a little bit more about that and what she does at AOA. Now, Elaine worked with me in a VIP day way back in August of 2024 because she had a specific speaking engagement coming up. So we worked together, and then she attended our in-person speaking workshop, where she was able to practice her storytelling, practice her messaging, practice her delivery. And so then that launched her on this, these additional speaking engagements that she’s been doing, which we’re going to hear about. So welcome, Elaine, to the podcast.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Thank you so much, Diane. I’m glad to be here.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. I’m so excited for our audience to hear from you now. You and I were chatting, um, briefly. Well, we’ll get into that in just a minute. Let me start by just saying if you can just. I said you work at AOA, but you’ve actually had a long history somewhere else before that. So if you could take a short, a short little bit and tell our audience what you do now and sort of what your background is and how you came to this work that you do.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Absolutely. So my background is engineering. I’m a mechanical engineer by trade that has used that to go more to the project management side to balance the, the technical and that idea of loving people and solving problems. So very excited. I’ve been in the theme park industry for over 22 years. I worked for Walt Disney World for many of those years, but recently have started, like you said, with AOA, which is a company that actually started from Disney to former Imagineer, started this small company, um, that still brings these wonderful stories to life here and all around the world. So we get to partner with Disney and other theme parks as well as museums. Uh, you name it. It’s just if you can think of a themed opportunity. Uh, that is what our team does when it comes to creating storytelling and, uh, the engineering project management side, which is ties so well into what you do as well, is teaching us how to tell stories, whether those are through the projects that you create and or through speeches that you give.
Diane Diaz:
Well, that’s such a great point. You’re so right. Because I was looking at the website for AOA, and I saw that it had been started by former Disney Imagineers and that it was really about building experiences. And so that’s what we do when we speak, right? We are building experience. We’re telling a story. And so, I mean, that’s interesting. Your job is storytelling basically through an engineering lens, right? Creating that experience. But also when you’re a speaker, your job is storytelling, creating experience for the audience. So I know. Um, back in August of 2024, you had reached out for a talk that you had coming up. So what was your what was your speaking experience? And we’ll talk about working together then. But what was your speaking experience before we worked together in that VIP day?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
So before that VIP day, I had given more of your short type of talks somewhere around 15 to 20 minutes. Um, on very topics that I know really well, etc. and when I reached out to you, it was because I got my first opportunity to do a keynote. And so I was taking this 15 to 20 minute thing that I do to an hour. And it was quite the it was quite the jump in time, as well as the jump in the amount of people who were going to be attending. And I really wanted some advice from you on how to take what I know and turn that into an actual keynote. And that session with you was amazing. You really helped me first get out of my head. When it comes to always just having to bring tips, right? Like I’m the tip girl. Let me share all the things I’ve learned in my 22 years, and you’ve taught me how to put those in to the speech, so they’re there. Um, but with that comes the storytelling. And what was so funny is I do that so often, but I kind of lost that idea of needing to bring that storytelling aspect, that beginning, middle and end throughout everything, especially during an entire hour presentation, and really appreciate what you helped me create. And just the confidence that I had going into that speech was wonderful. And then once that, once I did that, then I just got the bug of I need to continue doing this more. And, um, so I appreciate that because that was the the gateway. Yeah.
Diane Diaz:
Like a gateway drug to speaking. Right? Yes. You know, one that’s so funny. Like I did notice that that once you did that talk. And then, of course, we’ll talk about the workshop you came to. But I noticed you kind of got that bug of speaking. So we we are the gateway. If you work with us, you’re going to we’re going to push you to do more things, get out there more. And like we were talking about before we started recording, actually pitching yourself to to speak, which will again, we’ll we’ll touch on that in more in a little bit. But I love too, that you mentioned that, you know, you had kind of been sort of like the tip girl. And so that’s that expert trap that we talk about, right? Where you get stuck just sharing tips and all your expertise, but also you forget, like as you said, your your job is storytelling in the engineering work that you do. And so it but we don’t realize sometimes we can’t use our superpower on ourselves. So we forget like, oh, we actually do this in our work. But then how do we translate that to a talk? Right. And so that’s where, you know, when we worked in the VIP day, I remember you sharing some of your amazing Disney stories with me and things projects. You had worked on that, of course. So just for background, for everyone listening. Elaine and I both live in the Orlando area, and so I’ve lived here for a long time, and so I’m extremely familiar with Disney, as is anyone who lives here. And so as we were working together and you were sharing your stories with me about these different projects you worked on, you know, these are things that are familiar to me. And so hearing’s kind of the background of these things and your involvement in them and those the power of those stories. And I believe the talk you were you were going to give that keynote talk was to a group of young women engineers in college. Is that correct? Correct.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
That is correct.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. And yeah. So the whole goal was to sort of let them see what’s possible, inspire them, you know, show them where they might be headed in their in their career. And that’s what we ended up with is these amazing stories that you of these projects you had worked on. And so, you know, I love that storytelling aspect, because then when you came to the workshop, that was an opportunity to actually practice those things. So. Well, let let me ask first though, once you when you delivered that talk. How was it received by that audience of young women soon to be engineers?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I, I’ve made so many good contacts and friends through that. I love all of them reaching out that are taking some of those stories and applying that feeling empowered themselves in the future that they can do in this industry. You and I had talked that my love of talking to fellow women in engineering comes from the fact that here I’ve been in this industry over, like we talked over 22 years and we’re still less than 20% of the industry. And so I appreciate you helping me because I want to keep encouraging and empowering people. So they see it. They it’s hard to be what you can’t see. And so we get out there to kind of inspire and encourage. And I think what I was able to do was reach that group and just continue to reach others to say, we can make a difference in this industry.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. I love that. You know, that just reminds me of something that just an experience I just had recently where I attended a scholarship social for a group that I’m a part of, and one of the young women receiving one of the scholarships was a she’s studying aerospace engineering and wants to be, I believe she told me she wants to be a test pilot and then a commercial pilot, and then she’s already done all all of these internships all over the country in things related to aerospace engineering. And I was really blown away by that. But the conversation I had with her was to to that point of the fact that it is a very male dominated industry. And so as a woman in engineering, you have all these opportunities, but also, of course, then you’ve got to, you know, work that much harder. But getting your voice out there, you know, being seen, having the visibility. And so hearing from women like you who’ve been in the industry for a long time for these young women to hear from someone like that, I think is so empowering because like you said, you you can’t be what you can’t see. But when they see it, they’re like, oh, I didn’t. Maybe they have never thought about working at a theme park. You know, maybe that’s never occurred to them. But so there’s those opportunities. So that’s how important. And for everyone listening, regardless of the industry. And that is how important your message is.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Absolutely, absolutely. And being able to show and and guide and show that there’s ways to show empathy in any type of industry. So absolutely.
Diane Diaz:
Yes.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Yeah. Storytelling.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, exactly. And I’m so I’m so glad that you were bitten by that bug, because then you attended our in-person speaking workshop where that was an opportunity in an in-person setting with, I think we had about 13 or 14 other women there. And then it was a whole day workshop where we gave hands on feedback. So there’s an opportunity for you to get on the stage, tell your story, share a story, get feedback from myself and Carol giving you feedback on not just the delivery, but also the stage presence, use of the stage, your body language, all of those things to make the story as impactful for the audience as possible so that it can really it can really create the impact you want to create with your message through that story. How? Tell us about that experience in the workshop, what it was like, what you walked away with it, what you walked away from it with.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I encourage people to attend these. To me, it was so nice to hear so many different voices and to remind myself that there’s many ways to give presentations. Some people do humor really well. Some people don’t feel authentic in doing the humor approach, and I really love that you work through different techniques that helped you think through what feels authentic to you, what feels like it’s going to get your message across, and getting to hear all these different women give those different perspectives and hear that and hear their story and hear why they’re up there and just getting to take little bits from them like, oh, that works for them, I love that. Or oh, I could do that too. And it helped me kind of tweak and become stronger just by being around them and or just getting some of the accolades from them as well. Like, oh, that was a fantastic story. And sometimes you just need that reminder of you’re making you’re helping others just as much as they’re helping you in this day workshop.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah. You know, that’s such a good point because when you’re practicing your talk in front of a mirror to yourself, right, you don’t have the feedback of someone else saying, oh my gosh, that really made an impact on me. And I do remember on that day, all of the women there, you and everyone else, when they would get up to tell their story, so many of the other people in the audience were moved by it or reminded of some experience they had or, you know, just gave some piece of feedback that was just like, oh, this was really meaningful when you said this. And it is a great opportunity to get validation for the story, validation for, you know, the way you’re delivering it, and also tips for making it stronger. But also, I love the point you made about the fact that everyone has a different speaking style, right? You might be a more reserved speaker where someone else is more boisterous. Someone else might use humor. Another person might, like you said, not be comfortable with humor in that way, and so everyone can use their own unique speaking style. And we saw that on that day. We saw many different styles of speaking, all of them amazing. But then it’s just amplifying whatever your natural style is to make it as powerful as possible for the audience.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Absolutely. And I love that you balance pushing us out of our comfort zone with the idea of still being authentic. And it’s it’s a perfect day for that to wear. You make us get up and do some improv thing, which for introvert engineers like myself, you can make that a little challenging, which I appreciate. And and all the while, like you said, just being able to encourage each other and know that we’re making a difference together and becoming stronger when you leave that day, That session?
Diane Diaz:
Yes. Yeah. That’s a really good point about pushing you outside your comfort zone because, you know, on that day we want you to to try some new things that maybe you’ve never tried before. And to full disclosure, Carol and I, we love what improv can do for someone who is a speaker. We don’t love improv per se, because we are both not very good at it. And I’m not speaking out of turn. I’m sure Carol would admit to that as well. I love to hate improv, but with that said, I do recognize the skills that I’ve taken from having taken an improv class and those exercises that we do during these workshops where Carol and I also participate them, even though we are, we aren’t good at it, but it does get you outside your comfort zone. It also it forces you to think outside the box of what you think is possible. It gets you into your body because you’re moving around on the stage. And so that’s one thing I love about these workshops is, you know, we can tell people, Carol and I can get in the expert trap, right, and tell people all these tips. Instead, what we do is we get in a room with the women and attend, have them practice these things so they can feel it for themselves. So instead of us just telling, they’re actually doing, and then they experience the power of being in a room with other women, getting that feedback, getting the validation, doing the exercises, moving on the stage. And there’s some I think you saw that day to some really big breakthroughs that happen.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Yes.
Diane Diaz:
In that day. Yeah.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
And you could you could just celebrate with them on that. And it’s so much fun. Absolutely.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. Yeah. You know, we laugh, we cry, we dance, we have fun, we get serious, we get silly. We do all the things. And it’s. It’s just the one thing that I love the most about it is seeing everyone in the beginning be a little reserved and timid and watching them just. It sounds so cliche, but literally blossom before our eyes to the end of the day where they’re on the stage sage with power. Telling this story is incredible.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I’ve connected with a bunch of the ladies who were in that session through LinkedIn. We stay in touch. We encourage each other. It’s so much fun to get comments from them, or to be able to comment on their stuff on LinkedIn and see them taking what they learn from that day and applying it. It’s it is. So the word encouraging just doesn’t give enough to to show what you get out of that day. It’s more than just a day. It’s building your own confidence. It’s getting out of perfectionism. And it’s it’s making connections that are so special.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah, that’s a great point about getting out of perfectionism. I think that’s one thing that we’re all probably guilty of is trying to make the talk perfect before we can go deliver it, but we know that you have to deliver it in order to be able to perfect it. Right? And to be able to make it better. Now, Elaine, were you. I’m curious. Were you, um, coming into that workshop, were you nervous? Unsure. Not like. What was. What were you feeling like coming into it. And then what was it like at the end?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I was definitely nervous, uh, especially being around some people who have a lot more experience, um, and, and those who have given bigger talks, done things for, um, getting paid for some of those things as well. What you’re encouraging us to do. So a little bit nervous coming in, but I think what you helped us see is what each of us brings and what each of us is going to learn. And so getting that that growth mindset of coming in and what you’re going to get out of that, uh, is so valuable. And I think, like you said, those sessions of just loosening up, getting to know each other, bonding, um, getting to hear what other people are trying to work on themselves and being able to be encouraging and help or even ask like, okay, how could I work on this? Um, how could I get this story across without emotions coming through? Things like that, where we we started just forming this effort of helping each other, and it was so uplifting. And like you said it from the moment through lunch, through the end of the day. It was just I didn’t want to leave, like I just wanted to stay around and be encouraged and like, wait, I got so much energy. How do we how do we keep this going?
Diane Diaz:
I know it’s such a fun day and it’s fun for for me and Carole as well. And we don’t want to leave either because it is so much fun and the bonds that everyone forms during that day, you can see those kind of happen before your eyes as well, which is so lovely to see. And if if we need anything in this world, it’s people supporting each other more. Right. And so seeing, seeing professionals and, and, you know, women supporting each other on LinkedIn. We watch that too. Like we see you all connecting with each other. We love to see that. Um, okay. So I’ve been following you on LinkedIn, of course. And I’ve seen you posting about other talks you’ve been giving. So I’ve noticed you have been bitten by the speaking bug and that you’ve been speaking more. Can you share a little bit about some of the speaking engagements you’ve had since that last talk that you gave where we worked together. Like what? What if. Where have you been speaking? What has been the topic? What has it been like?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
No, I appreciate it because you’re you helped us think through how to reach out more and encouraging us to do that more. And I had kind of stayed in my, my colleges, especially the University of Florida. Things here that I am happy to support will always support. But I appreciate that you helped us try to branch out. Um, so, you know, I got I found this whole group called Empowering Women, which is wonderful. And being able to reach out and apply and get selected to speak there was an amazing thing. And, um, then even the stuff, when you get rejected, I think you’ve really helped us build resilience through that. Um, so like, for instance, I had applied to the Society of Engineers the big conference that happens in October, and I didn’t get selected. Um, but what I took from that was, uh, you know, Carol gives lots of great tips on how to use AI, and I, I. I’ve learned from her for doing that. So I took some of the sections that were selected, copied those in and I, you know, saying, hey, you know, here’s the topics I like to talk about. Here’s the topics that were selected. What are some of the things that I could do that maybe change up the title or change up the content that stay authentic to me, but seems to be what they’re looking for at this event. And that helped me get selected for a local. So it wasn’t necessarily getting a big one, but I got selected to talk at a local one, which was exciting. So I really appreciate all the tips that she does to stay resilient. Don’t take the know. What do you learn from it? Yes, and how you can build and change still being authentic to you, but change to make sure you’re hitting the content that’s important for those sessions.
Diane Diaz:
Oh, that’s so exciting. I love to hear that you’re using AI to help you with that. Yay! We love that. You know, I think as speakers, we need to use whatever tools are available to us to help us, you know, craft a pitch or refine the pitch or like, Like you did. Like look for where? Where can I improve upon this? To maybe submit to this other speaking gig or conference or whatever? And I mean, that’s very smart and obviously very effective. So now you got chosen for another talk, which is great. Love that. And what does that talking to be on or have you given it already.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
No that’s okay. So basically what it’s able to do on this case, it’s it’s taking a political look at how to stay authentic to you and some of the political challenges. So very excited about it.
Diane Diaz:
That’s exciting. Wow, I love you’re also doing a nice job of taking your core message and sort of massaging it into other realms, which that’s another thing that we like to see happen because, you know, you don’t have to just speak to like the one type of audience all the time with the exact same message. You can modify the message, change it, which is the great benefit of using the framework that we the signature talk framework that we use. Because then you can pull some of the same stories, massage it into a different main message for a different audience. So well done.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
You know, dig deep. Thank you guys for empowering me for that.
Diane Diaz:
We’re doing all the hard work, but I absolutely love to see that now. Um, what? So how have most of your speaking opportunities come to you? Have you been have they reached out to you? Have you been pitching to different conferences? How have those come about?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I’ve actually gotten it both ways, which is kind of fun is, uh, I will say, still, most of it is me putting myself out there and trying. But, you know, I did get I did have somebody reach out to me recently for an opportunity to speak in September, and I was so excited to have somebody reach out to me and say, I heard you speak at the local conference first. We loved your topic. Would you mind coming in and sharing that same thing? And so it’s going to be fun to see how that continues to grow as the opportunities continue to grow.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. Well, and you’re very good about posting these things on LinkedIn, which I think helps in your visibility. And so to everyone listening to this as you’re speaking, post about these events, post about when it’s coming up, post after it, you know, as it’s happening, post after it happens. Because this is how we build visibility for our speaker brand, right? Like we you have the Elaine the engineer brand, but you also have Elaine, the speaker brand, right? And so really, you are very good about posting content on LinkedIn that demonstrates that you are a speaker.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Absolutely. And that’s that’s how that person reached out to me was through LinkedIn. And so, yeah, even those small tips that you and Carole gave, like just how to kind of go into your title and just make sure that that’s out there, like you said, here’s some here’s some snippets, here’s some photos of me out here. Here’s me and some of the people who I’m talking to that I’m inspiring. That matters. And so utilize that LinkedIn and those connections.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. Yes. Good. I love that. You’re absolutely right. Um, I think LinkedIn is probably one of the most important, uh, platforms that we can use because it, it functions a little bit like a search engine as well. So when people because it is a professional database, so to speak. And so when people are looking for someone to speak in a certain industry or on a certain topic, that’s they can go there in search. And so make sure you have and I’m saying this to everybody listening, of course, make sure you have speaker in your in your LinkedIn bio. Make sure you talk about speaking. Make sure you post about speaking because again, that’s how you build your speaker brand so that people know you’re, oh, you do this, you know, they can count on you to do this. Well. So fantastic. And so tell me a little bit about, um, from the time we worked together in last August in that VIP day and then through now. And so we worked together. Then you came to the workshop. Now you’ve actually been speaking. Tell me a little bit about how your how you feel like you’ve changed as a speaker.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I don’t want to like, say this over again, but I really do appreciate that. I think my my message has gotten better. And by not just sitting there saying, here’s your tips and and yeah, I came across very engineering, very here’s the bullet points I’ve got out of the bullet points and more into the, the storytelling. And I think that leaves people more inspired on where they can go. So I appreciate that you’ve helped me just tweak my message, um, a lot better, which gives me more confidence when I’m up there. And then, like you said, we’re just continuing to grow all those connections and allowing that to just reach a bigger audience, which is just so much more impactful.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah, yeah. No, I love that you mentioned the storytelling component because that is the you know, we all there’s a bazillion more engineers, right. And so a lot of those tips will probably be similar to what someone else might share. But when you incorporate your story. So for you, Elaine, you know these stories of having worked at Disney. Not everybody has that story of being a Disney engineer who can share those types of stories to inspire an audience or show them possibilities in that field, or, you know, your personal stories with your career growth and trajectory. Those are yours. Those are very unique to you, but they have a universal message to them, which I’m sure you’ve found to be the case, right?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Great. Absolutely. I agree. And just those moments means so much to me. When I give a speech. I’ve got the group that comes up to you afterwards that wants to talk what their takeaways are. Are there just the connections on LinkedIn afterwards when somebody tells you, here’s what I’ve applied, here’s what I owe you. It’s so rewarding, isn’t it?
Diane Diaz:
It’s and it’s so validating to that, you know, not only have you made an impact on them, but also, oh, what I have to say matters.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And knowing that it’s given them inspiration and taking them. That’s why we do what we do.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, yes. And this is for everyone listening. This is the power, I think, of this community where we work in this workshop, and we it’s like a community for the day. But then it carries on after that, and there’s just so much support for all, everything happening throughout the day, but particularly everyone’s individual personal stories, because we share a lot of very personal stories during this day in in an effort to find those stories that are going to make the best impact for the message. And I just love the way you can see kind of what your story does for your audience. You can see that happen during the day of that workshop. You can see it happen. So it’s almost like a live example of the power of story right then and there. But that, just like you said, just gives you the confidence for them telling your story to the audience once you deliver your talk. Yeah, I love that.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
No, I think you can’t say that enough. Let more than four people from that. That session I still talk to on LinkedIn. Their stories matter to me. The voice that they’re trying to get across. You can find what’s similar in yours versus what drives them, what’s inspiring to them, and then just being able to encourage them to continue to get that message out has been just as fun for me.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah. That’s a that’s a really great point. Like that support of everyone really, really is so powerful because we you know, we don’t can we do this alone. Maybe. But is so much more effective when we have others supporting us, especially someone who’s been at that workshop with you, seeing you deliver the message, seeing how powerful your story is and then can give you the kudos, give you the encouragement, give you the or even, you know, share a resource with you in some way, shape or form to help you, you know, pitch to an organization or something. So that’s the other thing about the workshop is just the bonds that are formed is so amazing for us to see happen.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Very powerful. Very powerful.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah. Now, um. All right. So now you’ve been speaking. You’re posting about it on LinkedIn. So what is next for you? You mentioned to me when before we started recording, you mentioned that you actually have pitched for another speaking engagement. But in addition to that, tell us a little bit about that. And then in addition to that, what else is on the horizon for you in your speaking career?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I again, I think I was telling you that, um, you and Carol will always be like little voices in my head of where I’ve made a commitment to myself on each quarter, how many people I’m going to at least reached out to, and making sure that I’m meeting those goals for myself, uh, not getting in my own head or being just concerned about it’s. Oh, it’s not perfect. It’s not the right time yet. Um, and so I appreciate that. I appreciate that your your voices are helping me drive and encouraging me to reach out more. Because it sometimes just takes that to to get the yeses and be okay with the no’s, because the yeses are going to be so much more powerful when you get them. So yes, you’re you’re in my head and you’re you’re encouraging me. And with that, I got to I submitted over the weekend for another one. So I’ll hear back in November and looking forward to seeing if that’s a yes as well.
Diane Diaz:
Yay! Exciting. And then do you have plans for any other pitching that you want to do for conferences or different speaking engagements?
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
I still need to grow that right now. Of course, it’s it’s the quarter of UCF, and so I’ve got a lot of time with them this quarter. I’m going as they’re getting back into the season. Um, the Society of Engineers there. I’ll be doing a speech for them, the Asme Mechanical Engineering Group. I’ll be doing something for them which is near and dear to my heart, helping all of them grow and and just seeing them as they graduate and get out to be these new brand new engineers out there. So this quarter is really focused on them. Um, but also just continuing to apply to other things as well.
Diane Diaz:
Oh, that’s so exciting. I also love seeing and this a lot of the women that we work with do this as they’re supporting other up and coming women in whatever industry that they’re in, at colleges or in organizations like that. And I do that, as Carol does that. And so we we like to see that as well, because it’s like inspiring those young women, not just in the career field that you’re that you’re in, but also they see you speaking to them, but then they also will follow you on LinkedIn and see that you’re speaking. And so hopefully they will want to use their voices as well. And so we’re role modeling. Hopefully we will see in them. And so more of us sharing our voices just has so much more power.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Great.
Diane Diaz:
Yeah I love that. Well Elaine, thank you so much for taking the time to share with the audience your experience working with us and also coming to the workshop and your experience with speaking and using your voice. I really appreciate you taking the time to to tell us about that.
Elaine Schomburg-LaFleur:
Well, thank you. And, um, I can’t thank you and Carol enough for helping me grow. Helping me step out of my comfort zone. Allowing me to meet other women who I get to help support and be a part of. Thank you for all you do for the women out there who have a lot of great stories to share, and thank you for empowering us.
Diane Diaz:
Oh well, it is truly our pleasure. All right. If you want to work on your talk and practice your delivery and storytelling with real time, hands on feedback from me and from Carol Cox in a supportive environment of other women, join us for our in-person Speaking Accelerator workshop taking place soon. October 30th. You can get all the details and register by visiting Speaking Your brand.com. So that again is speaking your brand. Until next time, thanks for listening.
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