To thee I send this written embassage-Sonnet 26

The idea behind Voce Veritas is for me to get myself in gear to write a book on the work I do. Clients have been requesting it and I think it's time to put it down in written form. I hope to write down and synthesize the ideas that have been passed on through my work because often times people are too busy to take on the type of coaching work I do, and they simply want something to read, to get them started.

 

As you'll see from my background information, I am an Actress and Executive Speech coach. I work with a small boutique firm in Chicago called Speak by Design--we'll have a new website launching at some point this February and we are really excited about the amount of work that has come to us in the last year alone. (You can learn more about us by visiting: www.voceveritas.com and www.speakbydesign.com)

 

Everyone at Speak by Design is an actor or an actress with an MFA. I happen to have two MFA's which is unusual to say the least, but each degree has served perfectly to bring me to where I am at today--which is a working actress (on stage, doing commercials and making small films) and being an Executive Coach. That title of Executive Coach is a bit nebulous so I will tell you a little bit more about what it is I do in the corporate sector.

 

In the summer of 2005 I answered an ad for Speech Coaching with SBD and the job has morphed and grown in wonderful ways over the past two and half years. I started working with consultants at a large firm who were getting various feed back regarding their communications skills. Some of those people needed work on their accents, others needed to develop 'executive presence' so we'd work on posture and mind set, others had work to do on synthesizing their thoughts. It really ran the gamut, but what I was pleased to discover was that all my theatrical training plugged in perfectly into the business world. And my clients were (and continue to be) quick learners; integrating the feedback and working on it on a daily basis.

 

Over the years my clientele has grown, I have worked with consultants, professors, non for profit workers, CEO's, students, and other actors. And the scope of my job has grown as well, while I still continue to work with people on clarifying their speech, accent/pronunciation work, and developing executive presence, I have also become a speech writer for many of my clients, and for a few I have even begun giving out style tips--what to wear, fashion tips, and for most I am also the confidante with whom they can safely vent--as all I do is confidential--and with me they can say, "this is how I feel", and I say, "OK let's work from there on how to powerfully communicate who you are and what you want." In other words, what I do has grown into developing people's true voices, their literal and the figurative voices, and as they do so, they begin to blossom in untold ways.

 

When I was a student at UT-Austin I walked by the main building almost every day, and on it is inscribed "Know ye the truth, and the truth shall make you free." And believe me, finding my true path, as and performer and coach, I have found an amazing freedom in my life that just keeps growing. I'd like to share that gift with you.

 

So it is to you people, who want to start slowly but have a curiosity about your true voice, to you I write these written ebassages...*

 

*Each article will lead with a quote from Shakespeare, so as to always tie what I do back to what I am most passionate about--acting!